Children & Young Persons

The law is particularly protective of minors and others who are too vulnerable to effectively look after themselves. There are a number of legislations which afford protection to children and young persons in the United Kingdom. One of such legislations was enacted as far back as 1933; the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. This Act has been amended overtime and most recently in 2008. The primary purpose of the Act remains the same; the care and protection of children and young persons. The provisions of this Act are not only applicable to parents and guardians but also to social workers and others working with children and young persons in one capacity or the other. It is a criminal offence for parents and others who are charged with the care of a child to neglect such a child. Child cruelty in general, exposing children to harmful publications where acts of crime are being committed, exposure to cruelty or violence and incidents which are naturally repulsive or of a horrible nature all constitute a crime under the Children and Young Persons Act.

Child Abuse is Not an Uncommon Criminal Offence

For clarification purposes, a child is deemed to be any minor yet to attain the age of maturity. It is a criminal offence for anyone in charge of the care and protection of a child to wilfully assault, ill-treat, neglect, abandon and/or expose such child or children to any situation or incident which may potentially cause the child to suffer unnecessarily; physically or mentally. It is also a criminal offence to permit others to mistreat and expose children to unnecessary danger and injury. Cases involving children are taken very seriously and the Police as well as other investigating bodies involved will try to find every piece of evidence with which they can charge and eventually convict suspects. Our advice to you is the same as in every other aspect of criminal offences; do not leave things to chance. The outcome of your case will depend to a very large extent on how quickly you are able to get a dependable team of solicitors behind you. At London’s most prominent criminal defence law networks, all our lawyers are very adept at challenging prosecution material and for spotting any irregularities, inconsistencies and other mistakes. It is not uncommon for the CPS to drop charges against some of our clients when we vigorously challenge their evidence and the manner in which it was gathered. The Police are not infallible and as such, it is not impossible for us to evidence that the actual state of events is significantly different from they believe it to be.

Criminal Offence of Child Abuse

The criminal offence of child abuse in whatever shape or form, including child neglect, is deemed to have been committed by anyone over the age of 16 who has responsibility for a child. Abuse in this regard covers a wide range of offences including sexual abuse, psychological and/or physical abuse. These are very serious allegations and we recommend that immediate action be taken. As a network of solicitors who are passionate about defending our clients and ensuring that their rights and liberties are not violated by the justice system, we will vigorously challenge these allegations on your behalf. Child abuse allegations, although regarded as very serious, can sometimes be brought falsely by the child or children in question for different reasons.

It is sometimes the case that the minor bringing the claim against a defendant is not capable of fully appreciating and understanding the gravity of such allegations and the consequences for the accused person. In our years of experience being London criminal defence solicitors, we have come across cases where a minor who is infatuated with the defendant becomes frustrated at the latter’s lack of response to several advances and lashes out in anger by bringing a false claim against the defendant. There are several other instances where it is absolutely vital that we ensure that your side of the story is put forward in a strategic, well formulated and articulate manner.

We are recognised experts at such presentation either in court; should the matter proceed to trial, or in dealing with the Police, the CPS and Social Workers who may be involved. Given the extremely sensitive nature of this particular area of criminal law, we highly and strongly recommend that regardless of how water tight you deem your defence to be, you do not conduct an interview with the police without legal representation. There is a chance that certain answers provided to especially leading questions may be immediately and sadly sometimes deliberately misconstrued. We stoutly believe that every single one of our clients deserves the right to be vigorously represented, no matter the allegations or charges they face. We are also very determined about ensuring that our clients are given a fair and just trial.

The services we provide to you as our client encompasses all of these areas and our dedication to seeing that you are given a fair trial and vigorously defended in court is what stands us even further apart from others. So whatever child abuse and/or neglect allegation has been made against you; either falsely or indeed otherwise, you will be making one of the best decisions ever by calling us right now and entrusting us with your matter. You most certainly will not be disappointed. It goes without saying that we operate a zero tolerance policy on confidentiality at London’s most prominent criminal defence law networks, as a result of which we can provide you with a water tight guarantee that your details and every single aspect of your case are safe with us.